Compassion

Compassion is not a doting mother's "Poor baby!" response when encountering tragedy in other lives. This response has been the basis of an international industry of non-profits which actually does quite well on government subsidies as well as contributions. The administrators wear fine suits and attend meetings in five-star hotels. It may be slick philanthropy or even top-down social activism, but it is not compassion.

Compassion is a personal transition, a dynamic process of intentional learning and practice. Compassion requires no money. In fact, reflexively reaching into a pocket for loose change is the antithesis of compassion. That may be an act of fear, charity or generosity, but it is not necessarily motivated by compassion. Compassion is a personal attribute. It is hard-won and painful to maintain in a world of poverty, violence and needless grief. 

Compassion is only acquired with conscious practice. Thinking you are compassionate, without doing anything to become truly compassionate, is foolish narcissism. For example, a man working in a laboratory at a university which develops chemical weapons for the military may think he is compassionate when he attends his Sunday religious services.  This is a lie. No person who would consciously work to endanger human lives for profit could be considered compassionate, no matter what social trappings or excuses he may use to convince himself he is. 

Some of the most compassionate people in the world are far from emotively empathic or ostentatiously philanthropic. They are the people who tend the sick and feed the needy without question of money or compensation. In fact, they are often rather taciturn and sometimes grumpy from fatigue. They are easily recognized when they touch your life. Imitating their compassion is often the first step to developing it. 

Humanism is a mindset based in a joyful and peaceful consciousness, based in self-knowledge and self-development. The practice of humanism in daily life develops compassion in the practitioner. Simply beginning to deeply acknowledge and accept my commonality with all living things which inevitably grow old and die is a good first step to developing a compassionate consciousness.